For Make Glorious the Linky-Link

[cleolinda]

Lamictal, day... what day are we on now? Eleven? Nothing new to report. Except that I took Lucky outside this morning and it felt like the first real approach of fall--a few degrees cooler, a few dead leaves swirled on the ground.

I spent most of yesterday away from my desk, which means that I have two or three days of linkspam piled up.

Since we were talking about Victorian variety shows the other day, an eyewitness account of a show at a "first-class," "aristocratic" music hall, circa 1891:

Lately an attempt has been made to introduce an intellectual element into the other portion of the entertainment at one establishment, where the management engaged a celebrated and justly popular actress to recite dramatic pieces by Lord Tennyson and other poets. On the night when [I] was present, the lady appeared after a man-serpent and before a couple of child clog-dancers, and was heard with respect and attention, being rewarded by applause quite equal to that accorded to the clog-dancing, though a shade less enthusiastic than the acclamation which greeted the contortions of the man-serpent.

(" It is unnecessary to describe the second class of music halls [the smaller and less aristocratic West End halls], in which neither audience nor entertainment presents any characteristic features." Oh, whatever. You had a deadline and you skipped part of your homework. Don't lie.)

Okay, I have to show you some more of this:

After a song and some feats by a troupe of acrobats, came an exhibition by a young lady in a large glass tank filled with water. She was a very pretty and graceful young lady, and she came on accompanied by a didactic gentleman in evening dress, who accompanied the announcement of each new feature of her performance by a little discourse. “Opening and shutting the month under water,” he would say, for example. “It has long been a theory among scientific men that by opening the mouth while under water a vacuum is created, thereby incurring the risk of choking the swimmer. Miss So-and-so, ladies and gentlemen, will now proceed to demonstrate the fallacy of that opinion by opening and shutting her mouth several times in succession while remaining at the bottom of the tank.” Which Miss So-and-so accordingly did, to our great edification.

Anna Nicole Welcomes Daughter, Loses Son.

Gulf of Mexico earthquake felt in Southeast US. It was? I must have slept through that. Oops.

JKR correction: "I haven't written 750 pages...I'm not close to finishing."

Paris Hilton pwned at costume birthday party for Richard Branson's son. "Paris had asked if she could come to the Mad Hatter-themed bash dressed as Alice in Wonderland - guaranteeing her a starring role. But when the Virgin tycoon found out, he secretly ordered that all 60 waitresses at the event should also wear Alice costumes - and he rubbed salt into Paris's wounds when she arrived by deliberately mistaking her for one of the serving staff and asking her to serve him a drink." Just to give you a little background info: "Dressed as the Mad Hatter, Sam - one of Britain's most eligible bachelors - welcomed 300 A-list guests. VIPs included Princes William and Harry, Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton, supermodel Kate Moss, Fergie's daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and Sir Bob Geldof." This may have made my week.

entropy_and_me: "I wanted to bring to your attention a cause related to the horrific abuse and murder of domestic animals in one New Orleans Parish following Hurricane Katrina last year."

Sportingbet arrest sparks fears of wider internet gambling crackdown. I find what the executives take for granted to be fascinating: "Sportingbet said Chairman Peter Dicks had been arrested at JFK Airport in New York early on Thursday for alleged violation of Louisiana State laws, mirroring the arrest in July of another CEO on racketeering charges. Another London analyst who declined to be named, said: 'What was he (Dicks) doing? You just don't travel to the U.S. any more if you're in that business.'"

Visit particle_person's talesfromthefen, syndicating folklore of the East Anglia region from Tales from the Fens and More Tales from the Fens.

The Movie Spoiler needs spoilers! If you've seen one of the movies they lack, pitch in!

skyblade: "There's an industry poll going around ranking talent, business sense, and on-set behavior." Read it for the insider dirt. Of which there is lots.

First reactions to Casino Royale are fab. My mother, meanwhile, point-blank refused to watch the new trailer. Apparently Blond!Bond is dead to her.

Sentences you will not often see: "Directed by Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin, the movie revolves around four studly warlocks at a prep school."

Viral marketing hits YouTube in the form of lonelygirl15 and her professionally-edited "confessions."

Turns out my second cousin is working on The Holiday, which I know principally as "the movie that dared to put Kate Winslet and Jack Black in the same fictional universe."

A revealing interview with the director of This Film Is Not Yet Rated. He reveals why violence gets lighter ratings than sex--and that the MPAA pirated his film.

Speaking of piracy: http://dontdownloadthissong.com.

"Borat" the year's most offensive masterpiece: "This year you are not going to find a more appalling, tasteless, grotesque, politically incorrect or slanderous film than Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. You probably won't laugh as hard all year either. For once it's true: Borat has to be seen to be believed. Like an exploding cesspool at a country club dinner. Or a strip show in a cathedral. You just might want to stay through the credit crawl too: The last shot is as funny as the first one." All I know is, I saw something about Alabama, the Center of the Universe, in the trailer. (That's the "In my country, they would go crazy over you two... but not you" part, roughly paraphrased.)

Apparently seventy tiny video clips at the Lost Experience have been put together to reveal this: What the Numbers mean. In theory, the Lost Experience was a web-only offshoot that you didn't have to participate in to keep watching the show. So I don't know if you'd consider this a spoiler; they may never reveal this on the show, who knows. It starts out slow, with Alvar Hanso himself on the training video this time, and then halfway through it switches to... something else.

For some reason, it was the last panel that made me laugh.